Currently Reading / Just Read (Books/stories/whatever)

[Gravity Defier]

A whole darn month after I started (and was interrupted by various short trips and the Olympics), I finally finished The Gone-Away World. If I'm being completely honest, it also took that long because the book is 500 pages and my brain went into Anxiety mode since I know I'm a slow reader and I liked it enough to want to know what would happen next...so instead of just dealing with getting through it slowly, I kept setting it aside and letting myself forget that I liked it.

Anyway, I really liked the concept and the twist (that I really feel stupid for not anticipating), plus it has ninjas and mimes and soldiers, oh my! I'd give more of a plot summary, but I don't want to.

Next up is some Victorian book followed by Inkdeath, by Cornelia Funke, both of which my mom grabbed off the pile at the library. Yay! for advanced copies.

Advanced copies would be perk #1 to my mom working at the library. #2 would be getting my hardcopies covered for me for free.

[UnnDunn]

Currently ploughing through Asimov's Robot series... enthralling stuff. I'm on The Caves of Steel now.

Cut me some slack, I just discovered my inner Sci-Fi bookworm last year, I have to cover all the basics.

[Jayelle]

I've been reading lots since I went on Mat leave:

Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore. - Funny, interesting and a good read, he reminds me alot of Douglas Coupland.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni - I've been wanting to read that one for awhile, and it's excellent. Very gripping... a bit depressing. I can see why it's on the bestseller list, though. I want to see the movie version now.

Shopoholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella - Crap. I thought it might be fun ChickLit, but I hated the main character so much by the end.

Can you Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella - Slightly better ChickLit. I didn't hate the main character in that one, so it was more fun.

Robin: Year One by Chuck Dixon (comic) - Fun and great art, but not quite as good as Batgirl Year One or Batman Year One. Less of a cohesive whole, but good nonetheless.

I'm currently in the middle of Wicked by Gregory Maguire (because someone mentioned it in this thread). It's good. Alot darker then I thought it would be. I'm having trouble imagining how it's a musical.

[Gravity Defier]

I'm having trouble imagining how it's a musical.

Well, they took the basic idea and sugar-coated it. A lot. I liked both but I liked the book more; it was raw and dark and unsettling whereas the musical was lighter and tied up neatly.

[Luet]

I'm rereading Asimov's Foundation trilogy but this time I'm going to also read Foundation's Edge. Can you believe that there are a lot of people who have never heard of Isaac Asimov? Seriously! Gah.

[UnnDunn]

I'm rereading Asimov's Foundation trilogy but this time I'm going to also read Foundation's Edge. Can you believe that there are a lot of people who have never heard of Isaac Asimov? Seriously! Gah.

I loved Foundation (the first trilogy; haven't read the second trilogy yet.) I've probably said this before, but I liked how Asimov took great pleasure in making the reader his bitch in the Foundation trilogy.

[lyons24000]

Many people do not know this but in the Robot/Empire/Foundation series (they all take place in the same universe) there are about 45+ books!

The books go roughly in this order:

1. I, Robot
2. The Positronic Man
3. Nemesis (Asimov said that Nemesis is not part of this giant universe but then later he tied it into the series in the book Foundation and Earth.
4. The Robots in Time series
a. Predator
b. Marauder
c. Warrior
d. Dictator
e. Emperor
f. Invader
5. The Caves of Steel
6. The Naked Sun
7. The Robots of Dawn
8. Robots and Empire
9. The Robot City series
a. Odyssey
b. Suspicion
c. Cyborg
d. Prodigy
e. Refuge
f. Perihelion
10. The Robots and Aliens series
a. Changling
b. Renegade
c. Intruder
d. Alliance
e. Maverick
f. Humanity
11. Caliban
12. Inferno
13. Utopia
14. Mirage
15. Chimera
16. Aurora
17. Have Robot, Will Travel
18. The End of Eternity (Again, I believe this was a standalone novel but Asimov used Foundation's Edge to tie it into the rest of the series)
19. The Stars Like Dust
20. The Currents of Space
21. Pebble in the Sky
22. Prelude to Foundation
23. Forward the Foundation
24. Foundation's Friends
25. Foundation's Fear
26. Foundation and Chaos
27. Foundation's Triumph
28. Foundation
29. Foundation and Empire
30. Second Foundation
31. Foundation's Edge
32. Foundation and Earth

I tried to put them into as good a chronological order as possible but I am not sure of how correct this order is that I listed them. Now, many of the books are out of print and did not have a giant printing. Therefore, many of them are hard to find. I do have all of them except Emperor. I found them all in used bookstores so you may not even find all of them. Remember, too, not all of these books were written by Asimov. Many do not hold them as canon.

Anyway, have fun reading!

[UnnDunn]

Would the Robots in Time series be the one that is sold as a single volume called I, Robot whose current edition has Will Smith on the cover? Because that's the book I read recently. I understand there was a prior I, Robot that was completely different...

[lyons24000]

Would the Robots in Time series be the one that is sold as a single volume called I, Robot...

No. Robots in Time is a completely separate series set in six books.

Remember: Most of the books on that list are NOT written by Asimov.

[locke]

ugh I put in an order to amazon and got it today and realized I wasn't paying attention and one of them was trade paperback rather than HC oh well.

have I mentioned how pleasurable and delightful it is to reread Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. Eeee! such a good book to sink into. It's odd how much Clarke can make you like and dislike both men. Norell is at first a bit endearing for being so eccentric, and then you kind of love how out of it he is. And you're quite persuaded how right and wise he is about fairy magic and how much is risked by using it. But then you get to Strange and he's so charismatic, but he's also a bit of an egotistical a******. Still you can't help but love how passionate he is about magic and be increasingly frustrated by Norell's strictures on Strange. And the more Strange takes over the book the more you begin to resent and dislike Norell, despite Norell being a character you quite liked earlier in the book, and then it all winds up with reevaluating the characters once again and you realize just how deeply affected you are by point of view.

And then you want a sequel.

[Caspian]

Did you just discover smilies, Locke?

[locke]

yes they are magical

and the books I got with my birthday amazon certificate, well, one of them, Deer Hunting with Jesus, has already completely sucked me in. Looks like strange and norrell will have to wait a spell before I pick them up again.

[Rei]

I'm in the final pages of Brideshead Revisited. I'm still not sure what I make of the book.

[UnnDunn]

Finished The Caves of Steel. A little disappointed in the conclusion; it felt a little cheap compared to other Asimov books. But it was still a very fun read.

On to The Naked Sun.

[locke]

Deer Hunting with Jesus was a tremendously entertaining book. It definitely gave me a new perspective on thinking about some things that I knew but had never really thought about. What a terrific writer. If I could put one book in Barack Obama's hands, it would be this one.

[Gravity Defier]

Just finisihed Eon: Dragoneye Reborn, by Alison Goodman. I enjoyed it so much that I was entirely too pissed off that it won't be resolved until book two is published. I have no idea when that will be, seeing as this one doesn't come out until December.

[Seiryu]

Finished rereading The Dresden Files series. Now I'm reading:

For School:
"The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams (which I'm enjoying, surprisingly enough)

and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

For Fun:
John Dies at the End By David Wong

Does anyone know why they call it Alice in Wonderland when the official title is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?


(Edited to fix David Wong's name.)

[zeroguy]

John Dies at the End By David Woo

I think you mean David Wong. Awesome story.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. MURAKAMI Haruki. Surreal and great.

[Rei]

Does anyone know why they call it Alice in Wonderland when the official title is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

It's Disney's fault. That's the name of their film production.

[Eaquae Legit]

I'm reading the series "Vatta's War" by Elizabeth Moon. It's been a long time since I was sucked into a book or series against my will. It's a nice feeling, but exhausting and I really need to be careful that I don't forget to do important stuff.

[Seiryu]

John Dies at the End By David Woo

I think you mean David Wong. Awesome story.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. MURAKAMI Haruki. Surreal and great.

Ah, yes. Thanks. I changed it in my post. Yeah, I've read the Prologue and first chapter and I laughed through most of it.

Does anyone know why they call it Alice in Wonderland when the official title is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

It's Disney's fault. That's the name of their film production.

Yeah, I can believe that. Another book I have to read for the same class that I'm reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for, we're reading Peter Pan. Another movie Disney got their greasy paws on. Faux sequels up the wazoo. I enjoyed Hook (which wasn't Disney), but Disney hasn't made a good direct to video sequel yet (with the exception of Aladdin 2 and 3.) Now they're milking Peter Pan AGAIN and making Tinkerbell movies. WTF?

[Gravity Defier]

An awesome friend just sent me a copy of the Twilight books, so I'll be reading at least the first of the series in the next couple of days. (Shannon, if you're so inclined, I think you should read along with me and find out whether Edward lives up to his reputation...which reminds me, I need to get back to Austen sometime here soon.)

Currently, I'm in the middle of Inkdeath (Cornelia Funke), which is better than the second and possibly even the first of the series. I'm talking to the characters out of frustration quite a bit, which gets me some funny looks from my mom and brother.

Sidenote: I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get myself out of mainly YA books and into the big kid stuff. But then I pick up another one and think, "To hell with growing up."

[locke]

Sidenote: I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get myself out of mainly YA books and into the big kid stuff. But then I pick up another one and think, "To hell with growing up."

[Rei]

I'm working through a translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses for class. It's a lot better than I knew to expect.

[locke]

ovid's metamorphoses are wonderful, we followed them up with the Orlando Furioso which I highly recommend.

[Rei]

I think we're following up with Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy. Also a translation, thankfully. Intro classes are great this way.

[LilBee91]

An awesome friend just sent me a copy of the Twilight books, so I'll be reading at least the first of the series in the next couple of days. (Shannon, if you're so inclined, I think you should read along with me and find out whether Edward lives up to his reputation...which reminds me, I need to get back to Austen sometime here soon.)

Funny you should mention that. I started reading Twilight last week (my mother threatened violence if I didn't get on the bandwagon). I've been rather busy, so I still have 100ish pages left. And then the rest of the series. Edward, while pretty awesome, is a little too dramatic for my tastes.

I'm also reading Othello now, for school. I think I enjoy Shakespeare more on my own than when I read it in a class.

[Derwyddon]

I've actually been reading a series my father gave me called "bio of a space tyrant" I quite enjoy it so far.

[Dr. Mobius]

I started rereading Myst: The Book of Atrus a couple days ago. I had forgotten how much I love this book.

[Wind Swept]

Ooo. I have one of this Myst books. Perhaps I should read it.

I started a book club. Our first book was The Orchid Thief. I didn't finish it, but what I read was interesting. This was the wrong semester to start a book club.

[Dr. Mobius]

There's three Myst books and I think they're all out of print. The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti'ana and The Book of D'ni.

[locke]

Reading What it Takes, by Richard Ben Cramer. Terrific book.

[Jayelle]

Our first book was The Orchid Thief.

This reminds me of a conversation I had at the library ref desk a couple months ago... (not the same book, but the word "Orchid" in the title):

Patron: Do you have the book "The Last Orchid"?
Me: *type, type, type* no, I'm not finding anything with that title.
Patron: Well, it's really new, maybe you have it on order
Me: No, it would still come up here if we've ordered it.
Patron: Oh, you're spelling "orchid" wrong.
Me: No, that's how you spell orchid.
Patron: Then they have it spelled differently for the title.
Me: What's the spelling?
Patron: O-R-A-C-L-E
Me: Oh, that's The Last Oracle
Patron: Yeah, The Last Ora-kid. *still pronouncing it like the flower*!

[Rei]

The Last Oracle: The Search for the Lost Voiced Alveolar Plosive.

[Darth Petra]

I finished "The Great Gatsby" last week. It was interesting. It wasn't bad...it wasn't great...I give it a solid B.

I also re-read the Silver Chair and the Last Battle, because I needed something old and comforting. And those are the two best in the Narnia series.

AND, I finished Les Miserables last week, after a month of reading. No, it didn't make me cry! not at all, not even a little...

Ok, I'm lying. Freaking sobbed through the last chapter. STUPID, STUPID emotions.